Turkey Calls U.S. Conviction of Banker ‘Scandalous’

Mr. Erdogan had seemed particularly concerned by the case of another defendant, the wealthy gold trader Reza Zarrab, who pleaded guilty before the trial and became the prosecution’s star witness. Although Mr. Zarrab indicated several times that Mr. Erdogan knew of the sanctions-evasion plan, many in Turkey did not see his testimony as damning.

Mr. Erdogan, who excoriated United States officials over the trial, and personally raised it in a telephone conversation with President Trump in September, made no statement on Thursday, leaving the reaction to his officials.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry called the verdict “unjust and unfortunate” and the trial an “unprecedented interference in Turkey’s internal affairs.” Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said it represented “an attack on Turkey’s judiciary and sovereignty, and we do not accept it.” A senior presidential adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, described the verdict as a “scandalous decision in a scandalous trial.”

The officials repeated Turkish government complaints that evidence used in the case against Mr. Atilla had been compiled by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a United States-based preacher whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016. Mr. Gulen has denied any involvement.

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A Halkbank branch in Istanbul. The defendant in the case, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was the bank’s deputy general manager for international banking. He was convicted on charges of conspiring to evade American sanctions against Iran.Credit
Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images

Turkey has also accused Mr. Gulen’s movement of being behind the nation’s own criminal investigation into the sanctions-busting scheme, in 2013, which provided much of the evidence used in the American indictment.

The consistent government message, explaining the court case as a plot against Turkey and Mr. Erdogan, has found a ready audience among many Turks who already believe that the United States was behind the failed coup of July 2016, Mr. Unluhisarcikli said. “This fits into the conspiracy that the U.S. wants to topple the government,” he said.

Mr. Erdogan has depicted popular demonstrations against him in Taksim Square in 2013 as a first move to unseat him, followed by two others: the 2013 criminal investigation into the sanctions-busting scheme and the failed coup three years later, which left more than 200 people dead.

It is widely believed in Turkey that followers of Mr. Gulen were behind the failed coup, and the failure of the United States to agree to his extradition is perceived as a sign of American complicity by many Turks. American officials say that Turkey does not have convincing evidence for extradition.

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Turkey has also requested the extradition of a police investigator, Huseyin Korkmaz, who led the investigation against Mr. Zarrab in 2013 and served as a witness in the United States trial. Mr. Korkmaz told the court that he had fled Turkey with files from his investigation, with the help of American law enforcement officials.

“It is a shameful political operation,” Mr. Kalin, the presidential adviser, said at a press briefing in Ankara. “Those who think they can harm Turkey that way, our nation clearly sees the game that was set up.”

The judge presiding over Mr. Atilla’s trial, Richard M Berman, criticized the defense lawyers for introducing such theories, describing them as far-fetched.

Turkish officials are now concerned about shoring up confidence in the economy, as analysts predicted that Halkbank would be fined by the United States Treasury Department for having a role in the violations of the sanctions.

Halkbank insisted that it had not violated any regulations in a statement on its website.

“Our bank is always going to maintain its policy of transparency in transactions and compliance to international regulations decisively,” its statement said.

Financial analysts said previous cases resulted in banks being fined $5 billion to $10 billion. Turkey’s Finance Ministry has said it will support banks in case of penalties, and Halkbank’s share price rose by 2 percentage points on Thursday, an indication of confidence.